About

Hi!

This blog is a work in progress. What you can find are ruminations on attempting to live more modestly and as a conscious consumer – I’m too much of a pack rat to ever manage minimalmism!

There’ll also be posts about living in South London with a heavy emphasis on gardening where I’m growing veggies and ornamental plants in a small garden in Tooting. I’m always amused by books which talk about growing in “small” places and then describe palatial gardens!

There’ll also be posts about:

Allotment growing: experiments on my allotment (which I took on in Sept 2013) – and which I’m hoping ot have in full and glorious production this summer.

Flower shows and garden visits: my RHS membership has been reactivated and I have a renewed determination to visit more London gardens.

The odd theatre and gig visit plus the occasional side trip to exhibitions at the British Museum etc.

Gardening principles

I’m a bit of a lazy gardener and the plants I grow have to be resistant to a certain amount of neglect and the occasional bout of forgetfulness when it comes to watering and feeding! I try to garden organically (though I have been known to spray the rose in the front garden when the aphid population reaches critical levels) but I mostly have a no-kill policy since I’m trying to establish a friendly ecosystem.

I love colourful flowers, successional planting schemes which last a whole season and veggies which require little fuss. Though I’ll blog about hard labour in the garden I’m basically a laid back gardener: I aim for maximum rewards with minimum effort.

Other places you can find me

My gardening related twitter is: @GardeninginSL where I natter about gardening in 140 characters or less!

My gardening Flickr photostream is SouthLondonGardening where you can see pictures garden shows & visits, plants and pictures of my garden too.

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One Response to About

The Rose Avenue Allotment is a wonderful project. This is another chance to make our cities more sustainable and alive. We humans are the only kind of animal who can show our gratitude this way.

The history and illustration of your work, here, is a good way to keep a gardening journal. And to inspire others. And to share your knowledge.

Thank you for your interest in The Healing Garden. To get a ruderal garden growing, you need an abandoned spot, rocks, weeds, broken glass and trash. Clean the land carefully. Build beds. Add amendments to enrich the soil.

Similarly to your preference for plants that will endure some neglect, gardens in public spaces, especially in publicly subsidized housing spaces, must be sturdy. There is great beauty to life, so finding ugly plants is an impossible challenge. Also, I prefer plants that will cause pause for wonder. Plants that will heal. Plants that feed us. Now, your garden is a public exhibit, too.

The story of The Healing Garden and its mascot, Theodore, are in the process of the telling. It is a quiet time. A time of reflection and healing. While its story branches and vines, The Healing Garden website is closed.

Thank you again for your interest. Far away, but near at heart in the work at hand. The very best to you and your fellow gardeners on Rose Avenue.